Sun.’s Devo - Celebrating as a Nation

Read: Nehemiah 7:73a-9:21; 1 Corinthians 9:19-10:13; Psalm 34:1-10; Proverbs 21:13 The people all assembled in the seventh month of their religious calendar which was the first month of their civil calendar. The first day was the Feast of Trumpets. Trumpets were used to assemble the people together. Even though they didn’t know or realize it, they were fulfilling the meaning of the festival. One day on the Feast of Trumpets, Jesus will come a assemble his remnant which we call the Rapture. On the next day, the priest brought out the Book of the Law. The people stood to their feet when they saw him open the book and all praised the Lord. They bowed down and worshipped. I think this is what will happen in heaven when the people who are raptured get to heaven. There will be great celebration, then the law will be read to us and we will understand it like God intended it to be understood. As the priest read it, they explained what it meant and the people cried as they realized they had not be living it. But, the priests told them that today was not a day to cry but to celebrate. That is the picture of Jesus wiping every tear from our eyes as we realize the regrets we have that we have not honoring God like he deserved to be honored. They read how they were suppose to be celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, so they went out and got the prescribed tree limbs and built booths all over Jerusalem and stayed in them with their families for a week. There was much joy and celebration as everyone camped out and praised the Lord together and enjoyed one another’s fellowship. On the eighth day, the day after the Feast of Tabernacles was over they celebrated Simat Torah which is a celebration of the Torah. Traditionally on this day they would begin to read the Torah from the story of creation and continue throughout the year. The Levites stood before the people on that eighth day and told them the story of the creation of them as a called out nation of God. He began with Abram and took them through Moses and their whole wilderness journey and how God preserved them and kept them in spite of their rebellion and sin. In Corinthians, Paul defended his right to be paid for what he had done. He explained that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it. Paul had never charged or gotten paid and didn’t want to start now, but he was making a point for those who would go after him. He also wanted the people to stop being so entitled and to take responsibility and be gracious to others who preach to them. Lord, help us to be grateful and generous in what we have been given. May we be responsible members of your body and be examples of those who come behind us. May we generously bless those who have seeded into our soil.

Sat.’s Devo - Choose Love

Read: Nehemiah 5:14-7:73a; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Psalm 33:1-11; Proverbs 21:8-10 Nehemiah was the governor of Judah for 12 years. He never took a food allowance even though the governor before him had taken a large one at the expense of the people. Nehemiah feed his officers and visiting dignitaries out of his own salary because he feared God. Instead of acquiring land for himself, he devoted his time and effort toward building the wall. When Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem found out they had finished rebuilding the wall and that all they had to do was to set up the doors in the gates, they sent a message asking to meet with Nehemiah at one of the villages. He saw through their lies and found out they wanted to lure him away to harm him. He refused to meet with them. They sent four messages and the fifth time, the message came verbally. They accused the Jews of planning a rebellion against the king and Nehemiah would be their new king. Nehemiah told them it was all lies and kept working. Next they tried infiltrating from the inside. Shemaiah asked to meet Nehemiah in side the Temple and hide because his enemies were coming that night to kill Nehemiah. Nehemiah realized his enemies had hired him to say that so they could accuse him of trying to save his own life. He refused to hide. Each time, Nehemiah would pray that God would remember all he had done and all his enemy had done against him. In all the efforts to stop the work, the wall was completed in 52 days. Many of the nobles of Judah had sided with Tobiah because of his family name. They tried to convince Nehemiah that Tobiah was a good man even though at the same time, Tobiah was sending threatening letters to Nehemiah. Once the wall was set up and the doors were in the gates, Nehemiah appointed gatekeepers and singers. He gave the governorship to Hanani and Hananiah. Hanani was his brother and Hananiah was the commander of the fortress who was a man who feared God more than most. He told the gatekeepers not to keep the gates open but to shut and bar them and set up guards of the residents. Jerusalem was large but the population was sparse and the houses had not been rebuilt so God told him to take the genealogical records of the first who returned to Judah and compare it to the people who lived there now. It was the same list as in Ezra 2 but the numbers had changed as people had died and babies born. By taking another census he was giving the people a sense of identity. They were reminded of who they were and how much had been given to God’s work so they would be reminded of its importance. In Corinth, they had had a discussion about eating meat offered to idols. In the pagan temple, part of your offering was not offered on the altars but given back to the priests or the people themselves. They would resell the meat or offer it at parties etc. Paul told his followers not to eat this meat but he told them to choose love above all the judgment. There was only one God and they had chosen to follow him. The ones who worshipped idols were worshiping the wind. Paul knew that eating meat offered to idols was a farce and it didn’t matter because he put no power in their God. Meat was meat. But to others, this was a great offense so he was trying to encourage them to honor one another’s beliefs. If it offended someone else, you should not do it in front of them or maybe not at all. Lord, help us to choose love today. May we love our enemies and those who persecute us. Thank you for the leaders who stand for truth and what is right.

Fri.’s Devo - The Opposition

Read: Nehemiah 3:15-5:13; 1 Corinthians 7:25-40; Psalm 32:1-11; Proverbs 21:5-7 When reading the different people who repaired the wall I was impressed that yesterday we read where the high priest, Eliashib repaired the wall from the Sheep Gate to the Tower of the Hundred. Today we read that someone else repaired the wall around Eliashib’s house. I think it is a tribute to the high priest that he did not care for his own house first but the part of the wall that he deemed the most important to his country. He was a true leader and man of God. Most of the others repaired the wall around their own houses which was what they were told to do. The last person repairer the wall to the Sheep Gate, where the high priest had began. Sanballat was afraid of what would happen if they built the wall and sent the army of Samaria to mock them. Sanballat must have known prophesy about Israel because of the questions he asked. He asked if they would sacrifice again. He asked if the end would come in a day, and he asked if they would revive the stone out of the rubbish. All of these questions came from prophesies the prophets had given about Jerusalem. Sanballat had done his research. Nehemiah prayed that his words would fall back on him. The wall was completed to half its height around the entire city because the people had a mind to work. Sanballat and his men wanted to come and attack Jerusalem and put it in confusion but the people of Judah prayed and guarded the city day and night. After a while, the people of Judah began to despair that the work was too taxing and they needed help. It didn’t help that their enemies were threatening them with attacks. Nehemiah posted guards on the low places in the wall. Half of them worked while the other half stood guard. All the builders built with a sword belted to their side. The trumpeter stood to sound the alarm if needed.They were to rush to the sound of the trumpet when they heard it and help there. In Corinthians, Paul was dealing with men and women who were becoming new Christians. One of the couple would become a believer and the other would not. It was causing so much trouble that Paul referred to it as a distress or a crisis. So Paul was trying to bring peace. He told them not to marry for a while until things calmed down a bit. If they were engaged and couldn’t wait, then they should be married. Paul’s main goal was to get them grounded in their faith before making any important decisions especially marrage. Lord, may you be established in us before we make any rash decisions. May our heart be first to serve you and further your kingdom.

Thurs.’s Devo -Rebuilding the Walls

Read: Nehemiah 1:1-3:14; 1 Corinthians 7:1-24; Psalm 31:19-24; Proverbs 21:4 Nehemiah was a cup bearer to the King Artaxerxes of Babylon. The cup-bearer was the one who drank from the king’s cup first to make sure the wine was not poisoned, then he would give it to the king. So he laid down his life for the king every day and was one of the king’s most trusted servants. Nehemiah was also a Jewish exile who loved his nation and honored God. He learned from his brother that had been in Jerusalem that things were not going well for the Jews in Jerusalem. The wall had been torn down and the gates and been destroyed by fire. Nehemiah sat in shock. He fasted and prayed. He repented for himself and his nation and asked God to help. He prayed for favor from the king. The next day the king asked him why he was so sad and he told him. He asked to go to Jerusalem and help his nation rebuild their walls and repair their gates. He also asked for protection, equipment and the time off to stay and repair the walls. The king and his queen listened and gave him everything he requested. He was given letters to help him travel, letters to give him timber and an army of officers and horsemen to protect him. He arrived in Jerusalem but Sanballat and Tobiah, officials in Jerusalem heard of his arrival and were not pleased that someone had been sent to help the Jews. They were not Jews and did not want the Jews to succeed. Nehemiah got up in the middle of the night to go and assess the damage of the wall and gates. He met with the priests, Nobels, officials and the people in administration and told them his mission. He encouraged them to rebuild the walls with him and told them of the favor the king had given him. They were in agreement. Sanballat, Tobiah and Goshen heard of the plan and came to stop them. Nehemiah told them that they were rebuilding the wall and the three of them had no right to the work because they were not Jews. The high priest and other priests began to rebuild the Sheep Gate and dedicated it and set up its doors and built the walls. Others joined and took a section of the wall to rebuild. In Corinth, there was so much sexual perversion going on, Paul agreed with them that it would be better to abstain from all sexual relations except between a husband and his wife. The only thing that should stop them from intimacy would be an agreement to take time off to seek the Lord. Then they would comeback together as not to give Satan an opportunity to tempt them. He told widows it would be better to say unmarried unless they could not control their desires, then they should marry. He told the married to stay together and work things out. If the wife is not a believer and chooses to stay with a believing husband then they should stay married. If a believing wife is married to an unbeliever, and he is willing to stay married to her, then she would not divorce The holiness the believer brings into the marriage makes the children holy. If the unbelieving spouse wants to leave then the believer should let them because God has called us to live in peace. Whatever state the person was in when God called them, they should stay in that state. Lord, help us to navigate your laws in a lawless world. May we put your Word above all else and honor you with our bodies and our lives.

Wed.’s Devo - Honoring God with our Bodies

Read: Ezra 10:1-44; 1 Corinthians 6:1-20; Psalm 31:9-18; Proverbs 21:3 Ezra repented for the nation’s sin of intermarrying with the pagans. Shecaniah, one of the leaders came to Ezra and repented because he had married one of these women. He suggested they all divorce their wives and repent and turn back to God. They would send their wives and their children away. How painful would that be! Ezra made them all swear they would do what Shecaniah said and they all swore an oath. A proclamation was made for every Israelite should come to Jerusalem in three days. If they refused to come they would be forfeiting their property and be expelled from the assembly of the exiles. It was in the middle of winter but they came and stood before the Temple. They were trembling because of the seriousness of the matter and because it was raining and cold. Ezra stood and told them to repent of marrying strange wives and to get rid of them and their children. Since there were so many who had done this they had to set up a schedule for the divorces. The priests who had married foreign wives were listed. Only four of the leaders opposed to what Ezra was doing. Two of them were Levites. In Corinthians, Paul rebuked the believers for not judging themselves in the church. One day we will judge the world so why would we let the world judge us now? Christians were suing Christians making a mockery of themselves to the world. He told them to instead, accept the injustice knowing that one day they would be judged for it by God. He explained what having sex with a heathen does to not only the person but the whole Body of Christ. We are all part of Christ’s body so what one of us does, affects all the others. Paul said to run from sexual sin because no other sin affects the body as this one does. It affects your physical and spiritual body. We were bought with the high price of Jesus blood, we need to honor that. Lord, may we worship and honor you with our bodies and not give ourselves over to sexual sins or even imaginations. May we honor the Temple of God within us and others.

Tues.’s Devo - Judging Ourselves

Read: Ezra 8:21-9:15; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13; Psalm 31:1-8; Proverbs 21:1-2 Ezra led a huge party of people out of Babylon to go and take the gold and silver and more of the treasures of the Temple back to Jerusalem. They would be traveling across dangerous land full of robbers and thieves but because they had told the king that their God protected all who worshipped him, Ezra was too ashamed to ask for soldiers to accompany him. Instead they held a fast to ask God to give them safe passage. God heard their prayer and protected them all the way. Twelve leaders had been appointed to carry the precious metals and when they arrived in Jerusalem it was all accounted for. They rested for three days then took everything to the Temple and gave it to Meremoth, Eleazar and Jozabad and Noadiah. They offered sacrifices and presented 12 bulls, 96 rams, 77 male lambs, and 12 goats to the Lord. They delivered the king’s decree to all the high officials of the land who cooperated in supporting their cause. The leaders came to Ezra and told him that the people had not stayed pure in their worship to the Lord and had joined in the pagan worship of all the people of the lands around them. They had married their women and given their daughters in marriage to their men. The holy race of the Israelites had been polluted. Ezra was utterly outraged and appalled. He sat in shock until the eventing sacrifice then he appeared before the people and offered a prayer of intense repentance for the sins of his nation. He repented of the continual cycle of sin his people chose to stay in and prayed God would forgive them once again. Paul was facing a similar problem in Corinth. A man in the church was sleeping with his step-mother and the people were proud that they were loving and accepting it. Instead, they needed to remove the man from their fellowship. We are called to judge one another in the family of God. Paul had already passed judgment on him. He told them to call a meeting of the church and throw the man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature would be destroyed and he would be saved on the day of judgment. If they didn’t get rid of him and make a spectacle of him, his sin would be like yeast and it would spread throughout the church. Paul had already told them not to associate with people who indulged in sexual sin in the church. In the world, people are always doing this kind of thing, but it cannot be allowed in the church. Paul concluded that it is not our job to judge those outside the church but it is our job to judge those inside it. Lord, may we be bold enough to judge the sins of the Body of Christ but may we start with ourselves. Forgive us of accepting sin because it is political correct. Help us to stand for righteousness.

Mon.’s Devo - Building For the Next Generation

Read: Ezra 7:1-8:20; 1 Corinthians 4:1-21; Psalm 30:1-12; Proverbs 20:28-30 Ezra was a priest from the lineage of Aaron. He knew the law of God and came to Jerusalem with the exiled of Babylon. They came in the 7th year of King Artaxerxes reign. They traveled four months to get there. Ezra came to teach the people the law of the Lord. He came with a letter from Artaxerxes saying anyone who wanted to return to Jerusalem was allowed to do so. Ezra brought with him gold and silver from the people in Babylon to be used to provide the priests with what they needed to worship God. They were given things from the treasury that had been taken from the Temple years ago. He gave the priests exemption from paying taxes and gave Ezra the authority to appoint magistrates and judges among the Jews who knew God’s laws. He made God’s law the law of Jerusalem. A list of the genealogy of all the returning exiles was given. Ezra noticed that no one on the list was a Levite so he sent for some Levites. He was sent Sherebiah with his eighteen sons and brothers and Hashabiah with twenty of his sons and brothers. He also sent for Temple servants who were assigned to assist the Levites. In Corinth, Paul made it clear that he was just a man trying to do God’s will. God’s wisdom is above all human reasoning and in the end, all in the dark would be brought to the light. Paul knew that he was a pioneer, taking all the persecution so that we could walk safely. He was willing to look like a fool so the next generation would be accepted. He did the hard work, plowing a very hard ground so that it would be easier for those who followed. Paul sent them Timothy who was young but was trained by Paul. He was to teach them what Paul had taught him so that when Paul did come, he could come with gentleness and not rebuke. Lord, thank you for the ones who have gone before us and plowed up the dry ground so that we can walk easier and grow. May we build for the next generation.